August 10, 2017

The Bandwagon

For some strange reason, I found myself re-reading some of this thread.

Hint hint?

Here's an open thread, with a prompt for a possible topic very much off the top of my head:

A bunch of candidates have already declared that they're running to replace Paul LePage as governor of Maine next year. So far there are seven Democrats, one officially declared Republican (with Susan Collins generating rumors but making nothing official so far), a Libertarian, and a couple of Greens.

Off the top of my head, the big Democratic field worries me. Or rather, I'm glad to see a big field, but I wish there was a way to winnow it down in stages instead of all at once. I would like to see two or three strong contenders emerge and battle it out, and I suppose that could happen if some of the lesser lights drop out well before the primary. But history doesn't make me optimistic in that regard; LePage won both his terms running against Democrats (neither the strongest of candidates IMHO) and an independent with a big ego who wouldn't get out of the way no matter how low his poll numbers went.

Point being: I think a big field and only one vote to choose among them makes it less likely that the "best" candidate (by whatever definition) will emerge.

I'm interested more in what people think about the general proposition than in assessments of Maine's situation in particular.

Comments

I'll admit that Shelby County was not decided on the most solid of grounds, but neither was Roe v. Wade and I'm guessing that does not keep most of us here up at night.

We were discussing the *impact* of Shelby County which I maintain is a net positive as long as efforts continue to get rid of gerrymandering in those states that are still afflicted by it and we deal with the regrettable efforts to suppress voting.

And keep in mind, Shelby County still allows suits to be brought under the VRA to challenge the impact of voting law changes.